BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION

Building and Construction Innovations

Bring new building products to market with Nottingham Spirk.

The building and construction industry is made up of a fairly unique supply chain. Building and construction manufacturers, some broad but many niche, sell to a variety of customer types: other manufacturers, suppliers and distributors, retailers, builders and contractors, and sometimes even directly to homeowners. This means new products developed within this sector must be designed to meet many different user requirements. The key is understanding each audience’s motivations, goals and pain points before jumping right into product design.

Some recent trends could impact the types of products you invest in developing for your company. For example, homeowners today are putting pressure on builders to offer more durable and sustainable product and material options, especially in areas vulnerable to natural disasters. How can your product pipeline be modified to meet these needs? Contractors are relying more and more on prefab construction to improve efficiencies during a build. Are you offering prefab or modular options, or supplies to assist in the manufacture of prefab builds? Distributors and retailers, just like consumers, want the ability to request quotes and order products online. Do you have an eCommerce website? These are just a few questions to consider as you plan your product pipeline and decide the best way to invest your innovation budget.

Our Approach to the Building & Construction Industry

Developing New Building Products & Construction Materials

Because Nottingham Spirk uses a uniquely collaborative process to help companies develop new products, we’ve had a lot of success over the last several decades partnering with building and construction companies. Our ability to help building product and material manufacturers analyze user feedback, predict category and competitor trends and quantify the potential results has resulted in a 95% commercialization rate. That’s significant on its own, but especially so if you consider that the industry average for patent commercialization is only 5%.

Some of our building product clients bring new product ideas to the table, while others schedule an innovation workshop moderated by Nottingham Spirk to creatively and collaboratively evaluate the landscape before settling on the most promising concept to pursue. Nottingham Spirk augments internal teams by adding insights, industrial design, engineering, prototyping, manufacturing, sourcing and marketing strategy, and each area is part of the process from beginning to end. This approach ensures all bases are covered as products are developed, and your lines of business can continue uninterrupted throughout the project.

ZIPMOUNT: Light Fixture Innovation

FEATURED ARTICLE

Let's change the world

One of Nottingham’s favorite stories to tell is the work Nottingham Spirk did with Sherwin-Williams Co. and its relatively new CEO at the time, Christopher Conner. The product concept was the now trademarked Twist & Pour paint container.